Saturday Nail Art - Cherry Blossoms

Today's nail art was done spur of the moment, after I had finished swatching the week's polishes. Word of warning: I was suffering from some noticeable dryness at this point, so a lot of these photos have been retouched. I started out pretty uninspired, and my first attempt was...uh, indefensible.

I have no idea what I was thinking with this

I saw that what I was doing was hideous, stopped myself, and thought it over. I had a beautiful neutral base, a brown creme, and a coral creme with shimmer. Suddenly, it became obvious: cherry blossoms!

In progress

I was so excited by this revelation that I didn't think to get in progress shots like last week. Basically, I just used a detail brush to draw branches using OPI A-Taupe the Space Needle, then a dotting tool to add flowers with KBShimmer A-Blazing, on a base of KBShimmer Acetone it Down. Here's a collage of the finished product, sun shots on the right and shade on the left:

I'm holding the bottle of A-Blazing in all these shots because this nail art really redeemed it in my eyes. When I swatched it, I was horrified at its pinkness. Combined with the other two colors, it read as the orangey-red I had wanted it to be all along. I really like the way this turned out, I didn't expect these colors to go together at all. Join me next week for some blues!

KBShimmer Acetone it Down

Today's polish, like Wednesday's, has a punny name. However, not only does this polish's name actually describe it well, it's also simple, cute, and easy to type: Acetone it Down.

Acetone it Down is a holo, but it's a soft one. The base is creamy, smooth, and just a little sheer; sheer enough that the holo particles are visible through the polish, but opaque at two coats with really excellent coverage. This is another one with a stellar formula. It's also another exclusive, kind of; this is one of KBShimmer's "misfit" line of polishes, which are versions of the regular collections that didn't turn out as they should have. Acetone it Down is a version of a nude holo that got a little too much grey in it.

Like the name says, the polish is toned down. It's not a loud, bright, crazy linear holo; it's very soft and demure. The website calls this one a taupe, which it is, but I was really delighted when I put it on because to me, this is a greige. A greige holo! Isn't that cool? It's such a pretty polish that I didn't want to take it off...so tomorrow's nail art was done over the top of it. Come back Saturday to see the transformation!

Saturday Nail Art - Stamping

Part of the point of this blog is to wear polishes I wouldn't have otherwise gotten around to. I've just shown swatches up to this point, but I think part of getting to really know a polish is using it for nail art. I didn't find the time to do anything really ornate this week, but I did want to see if Sally Girl 24 Karat would stamp well.

I edited this pic a bunch, but I didn't add the lens flare. That was in the picture already and I thought it looked cool.

Stamping isn't something I'm an expert at; even using a clear stamper, I have a hard time lining up the image on my nail. I used two images from the Uber-Chic succulents mini-stamp plate. I love succulents, so this was the first stamping plate I felt like I had to have. 

Stamped with Konad White and Sally Girl 24 Karat

The plate has a lot of cute images on it. I picked a design that actually appears twice on the plate in different sizes; the small one is perfectly pinkie-sized. I swear I'm going to stop blabbing about how my nails used to be long, but I actually swatched this week's polishes on them before the break. They turned out looking pretty bad, and I didn't get sunlight shots, just desk lamp. I thought I would show a couple even though they suck and I didn't edit them.

L: The plate
R: My nails dwarfed that tiny bottle :(

Join me next week when I resume swatching and eventually get to a polish whose name starts with a letter!

Wet N Wild Megalast 2% Milk

Today's polish is a sheer nude. It's a well-loved, accessible, affordable, and effective YNBB (your nails but better) polish from classic cheap drugstore brand Wet n Wild. I bought this because it came so highly recommended by the nail community, even though I hate sheer nudes. I don't want my nails to look milky and shiny! It grosses me out, just like actual milk. Maybe it's not so much a YNBB; maybe it's more of a YNBS (your nails but slimier). This is the slimiest polish in the galaxy.

This is a heavily edited photo. 

This kind of polish is seen as essential that everyone should have in her collection, though. It's versatile, subtle, and is appropriate for a wide range of situations. If you need a sheer nude to round out your collection, you could certainly do worse than 2% Milk.

In the end, I have to say I do like this polish. It applies really well, with very little streaking and no dragging. I did 3 coats for the pictures, but I wish I had left it at 2; more layers make the polish more gelatinous-looking, rather than more opaque. To really make this one shine, you need a matte top coat.

I edited this with the Windows 10 image viewer, so it's technically not Photoshopped..

Speaking of cheap-yet-high-quality drug store polish, here's NYC Matte Me Crazy on top of 2% Milk. Mattifying gives it a frosted-glass look that I love. I'm not a huge matte polish person, either; there's just something about this color with this finish that makes me feel like my nails are made of porcelain. I feel like the daintiest.

The plan for tomorrow is to show nail art made using this week's polishes. It's nothing super fancy, but I wore it all day and kept admiring it (even though I'm still missing my long nails). Check out tomorrow's post to see.